1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a transaction management method and apparatus and a program and a recording medium thereof, and more particularly to a transaction management method and apparatus and a program and a recording medium in which the consistency of a transaction procedure in a network service transaction or the consistency of transmitted or received information can be assured.
2. Description of the Related Art
Along with the development of the Internet, there are increasing dealings or transactions of commodities or services employing the Internet. In the transaction employing the networks including the Internet (hereinafter referred to as a network service transaction), the seller side conventionally takes the initiative in the transaction procedure, as shown in FIG. 13.
For example, if the seller (server 100) makes public a commodity via a network 300 (process c1), the purchaser (client 200) expresses a will for buying the commodity (process c2). A service covenant is publicized from the seller (process c3), and the purchaser agrees with this service covenant (process c4). Thus, the purchasing contents are made public from the seller (process c5), and the purchaser inputs the purchasing contents (process c6). In response, the seller confirms the purchasing contents (process c7). If the purchaser agrees with this confirmation (process c8), the seller makes public the purchasing acceptance (process c9). In this way, the purchaser must pursue the purchasing procedure in accordance with a transaction procedure defined by the seller side. The purchaser is obliged to input the data to buy the commodity.
The transaction procedure as shown in FIG. 13 is only one example, and in the network service transaction, the transaction procedure depends on each seller, and is not integrated at all. This is also the same with the data to be input in the service covenant or transaction. Therefore, it was difficult for the user (purchaser) side to know that the dealing or contract will progress in accordance with what procedure. Also, it was difficult to know whether or not the procedure is reliable. In other words, if the purchaser wants to make the transaction, there is no other way than relying on the seller (a server program of the seller), and the purchaser felt uneasy.
On one hand, the purchaser may alter the commodity contents in inputting the purchasing contents (process c6) or agreeing with the purchasing contents (process c8) in the transaction procedure as shown in FIG. 13. For instance, it is possible to modify artificially the unit price that was 1000 yen in making public the purchasing contents (process c5) or confirming the purchasing contents (process c7) to 100 yen when inputting the purchasing contents or agreeing with the purchasing contents. In this case, if the seller side has no check function, the transaction is made directly with the data of xe2x80x9c100 yenxe2x80x9d. Accordingly, the seller had no other way than relying on the purchaser, and thus felt uneasy.
Apart from the above, the transaction may be interrupted due to a malfunction or failure in the server for the seller, the terminal of the purchaser, or the network on the course of the procedure for transaction in some cases. In this case, even if the transaction was resumed, the transaction could not be continued from the interrupted portion, whereby it was required to abandon the transaction procedure pursued halfway and restart the procedure from the beginning.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a transaction management method that can assure the consistency of a transaction procedure or the consistency of transmitted or received information.
It is another object of the invention to provide a transaction management apparatus that can assure the consistency of a transaction procedure or the consistency of transmitted or received information.
It is another object of the invention to provide a program for implementing a transaction management method that can assure the consistency of a transaction procedure or the consistency of transmitted or received information.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a program recording medium recording a program for implementing a transaction management method that can assure the consistency of a transaction procedure or the consistency of transmitted or received information.
A transaction management method an intermediate server of the invention to intermediate a transaction between a seller terminal and a purchaser terminal which are interconnected via a network. The method comprises storing a transaction procedure comprising a plurality of procedures in a predetermined order for each transaction type, and the attribute information regarding the data to be transmitted or received in each of the plurality of procedures, and transmitting or receiving the data to be transmitted or received between the seller terminal and the purchaser terminal in accordance with the transaction procedure determined by the transaction type and its attribute information in the transaction between the seller terminal and the purchaser terminal.
A transaction management apparatus of the invention to intermediate a transaction between a seller terminal and a purchaser terminal which are interconnected via a network. The apparatus comprises storage means for storing a transaction procedure comprising a plurality of procedures in a predetermined order for each transaction type and the attribute information regarding the data to be transmitted or received in each of the plurality of procedures, and procedure management means for transmitting or receiving the data to be transmitted or received between the seller terminal and the purchaser terminal in accordance with the transaction procedure determined by the transaction type and its attribute information in the transaction between the seller terminal and the purchaser terminal.
A program of the invention realizes the transaction management apparatus to intermediate a transaction between the seller terminal and the purchaser terminal which are interconnected via the network. The program causes a computer, which is the transaction management apparatus, to execute storing a transaction procedure comprising a plurality of procedures in a predetermined order for each transaction type, and the attribute information regarding the data to be transmitted or received in each of the plurality of procedures, and transmitting or receiving the data to be transmitted or received between the seller terminal and the purchaser terminal in accordance with the transaction procedure determined by the transaction type and its attribute information in the transaction between the seller terminal and the purchaser terminal, and is executed on a computer which is the transaction management apparatus.
With the transaction management method, apparatus and program according to this invention, the data is transmitted or received between the seller terminal and the purchaser terminal in accordance with the transaction procedure determined by the transaction type and its attribute information. Accordingly, the transaction procedure, the service covenant, and the input data in the network service transaction can be substantially unified. Therefore, the user (purchaser) can roughly predict the progress of transaction procedure to trust the procedure, and can rely on the intermediate server. Also, the seller can rely on the data which is transmitted or received via the intermediate server, even though there is not specifically a check function.
A program recording medium of the invention is a computer readable program recording medium recording the program that realizes the transaction management apparatus to intermediate a transaction between the seller terminal and the purchaser terminal which are interconnected via the network.
With the program recording medium of the invention, the program of the invention can be stored and provided in a suitable computer readable recording medium, such as a floppy disk, CD-ROM and CDR/W. Thereby, the transaction management apparatus that makes the transaction management method can be easily realized.